Fuel burning air heater



March 13, 1956 Filed July 10, 1953 L. B. WHITE 2,738,181

FUEL BURNING AIR HEATER 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR HE L15. Wk z'Z e BY WYLM ATTORNEYS March 13, 1956 wH|TE 2,738,181

FUEL BURNING AIR HEATER Filed July 10, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR fiWhit BY M74, 60

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,758,181 FUEL BURNING JAIR HEATER Lyall B. White, La crease, Wis. Application July '10, 1953, Serial No. 367,131

6 Claims; (Cl. 263-19) This invention relates to air heaters.

An object, but not a limiting object of this invention is to provide a heater which is adapted to use gas as a fuel, and is constructed in such a manner that the heating unit may be placed in various locations in the space to be heated.

Another object of this invention is to provide a heater which can be produced at low cost and if desired may be placed on the floor of a building for heating air close to the floor.

A further object of this invention is to provide a heating unit which is so constructed that the lower portion thereof will be relatively cool so that when the device is placed on a floor or secured to a wall the floor or wall will not be subjected to excess heat.

In a preferred form of this invention the heating unit is connected to the suction side of a blower for forcibly circulating air, and a safety means is provided for cutting off the fuel in the event the burner goes out.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in the arrangement, combination and details of construction disclosed'inthe drawings and specification, and then more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a detailed side elevation of this invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the structure shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of either Figure 1 or 2.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 55 of Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a vertical section through the safety valve used with the structure shown in Figures 1 to 5.

Referring now to Figures 1 to 5 inclusive, there is disclosed a preferred form of this invention. A heater unit generally indicated at 36 embodies a cylindrical or tubular member 37 with opposite U-shaped end caps 38 and 39. The heating unit 36 is mounted on top of a power driven suction blower 40 and a suction pipe 41 is connected to the suction side of the blower 40 with pipe 41 having an intake nipple 42 extending partly into the discharge or outlet cap 39. A manually adjustable damper 43 is mounted in suction pipe 41 for varying the capacity of the blower 40. The intake nipple 42 is so located so that cool air will be drawn from the opposite open end of cap 39 in addition to heated air being drawn from the adjacent discharge end of tubular member 37.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, one wall 44 of blower 40 is provided with an opening 45 about the blade shaft 46 so that cool air may be drawn into the fan housing about the shaft 46 to maintain this shaft in a relatively cool condition. The heater unit 36 includes a burner 47 disposed on an upwardly and inwardly inclined angle and a fuel supply line 48 is connected with the burner 47.

2,738,181 Patented Mar. 13, 1956 Referring to Figure 6, a safety valve generally indicated at 49 is connected to fuel line 48 and a supply line 48 and embodies a housing 50 formed with a passage 51. The fuel intake connection 52 is secured to the lower end of the housing 50 and a spring-pressed valve plug 53 is normally seated on a valve seat 54. The valve plug 53 has a stem 55 extending upwardly therefrom and a head 56 is fixed to the upper end of the stem 55. The head 56 engages in a bore 57 which is formed in the housing 50 and which communicates with the passage 51.

An outlet connection 58 is threaded into housing 50 and communicates with the inner portion of bore 57. A diaphragm 59 is disposed in the upper portion of housing 50 being mounted in a cap 60 threaded onto the upper end of housing 50 and diaphragm 59 is interposed between head 56 and a plug or button 61 which is slidable in cap 69. The inner end of plug or button 61 is adapted to bear against the outer side of diaphragm 59 and plug or button 61 is formed between the ends thereof with an annular keeper groove 62. Plug or button 61 is adapted to be held in diaphragm depressing and valve opening position by means of a latching bolt 63 which is slidable in housing 64 threaded into and extending laterally from cap 60. An elongated stem 65 is fixed to and extends from locking member 63 and a spring 66 disposed in housing 64 constantly urges locking member 63 to the right or into the groove or keeper 62.

An expansible wire 67 is secured at one end to the stem 65 and extends lengthwise through the tubular member 37. The opposite end of wire 67 is secured to a transversely disposed bar 68 which extends across the discharge end of heater member 37, and wire 67 is tensioned or adjusted by means of an adjusting nut 67**.

When the heater unit is cooled, wire 67 will contract and will thereby draw locking member 63 to the left and out of the keeper groove 62. At this time spring-presses valve 53 will be urged upwardly to a valve closing position against the valve seat 54. Valve plug 53 is maintained in an open position by initially pushing button 61 inwardly to thereby manually open the valve. At this time burner 47 is lighted. When burner 47 is lighted, the heat from this burner will cause wire 67 to expand and spring 66 will move locking member 63 to the right and into the registering keeper groove 62. In the event that power for blower 40 should fail, heat from burner 36 will be discharged from cap 39. The amount of heated air discharged from blower 40 can be regulated by adjustment of damper 43 and adjustment of valve 67 which is interposed in fuel line 48.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a tubular heater, a cap at each end of said heater, each cap being open at the opposite sides thereof, a burner carried by one of said caps and projecting into one end of said heater, a suction-blower, means mounting said heater on said suction-blower, a duct extending from the suction side of said suction-blower into one side of the other one of said caps, the diameter of said duct being less than the opening in said other cap whereby upon stoppage of said suction blower the heat generated by said heater may escape from said other cap.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which a damper is mounted in said duct and a regulating valve is operativelv associated with said burner whereby adjustment of said regulating valve and said damper varies the temperature of the discharged air.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 in whichsaid burner is provided with a fuel supply valve comprising a valve housing, a normally closed valve plug in said housing, a flexible diaphragm in said housing, a stem carried by said plug and engageable with said diaphragm, a slide member carried by said housing engageable at one end with said diaphragm, said slide member having a peripheral keeper groove between the ends thereof, a springpressed locking member carried by said housing adapted upon inward movement of said slide member to engage in said keeper groove for holding said slide member in valve opening position, and means connected with said locking member and operable at a. predetermined low temperature for moving said slide member to released position.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the discharge of said suction blower is positioned at the bottom of said suction-blower whereby the heated air is discharged closely adjacent the floor or supporting surface.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4 in which a damper is mounted in said duct and a regulating valve is operatively associated with said burner whereby adjustment of said regulating valve and said damper varies the temperature of the discharged air.

6. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which said heater is vertically spaced from said blower by said mounting means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,144,783 Rector June 29, 1915 1,641,011 Sargent Aug. 30, 1927 1,823,122 Partlow Sept. 15, 1931 2,465,918 Newell Mar. 29, 1949 2,591,870 Rice Apr. 8, 1952 2,604,312 Andersen et a1. July 22, 1952 

